For fixing bones, in particular on the pelvis, or long bones in case of a fracture, plates and screws are used in a known manner. These are constructed so as to be to some extent adaptable to the curvature of the bone or pelvis portion to be fixed. The plate shape itself and the position of the screws therefor can be varied only to a minor extent.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,542 is known a clamp for a bone screw, comprising two sections for receiving the head of the bone screw, a hook which receives a rod, and a clamping means which holds the two sections together so that they clamp fast the head of the bone screw and the rod guided by the hook. Due to the large number of different component parts, however, this clamp is very complicated to handle and elaborate to make.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,831 shows a bone fixing device with a bone screw and a clamp. The clamp consists of two portions which comprise ball segment-shaped recesses on one side for receiving the ball-shaped head of the bone screw and cylinder segment-shaped recesses on the other side for receiving a rod. The two portions are connected to each other by a screw so as to clamp fast the head of the bone screw on the one hand and the rod on the other hand. This fixing device too is complicated to handle and elaborate to make.